


The Eternal Kiss

by madam_minnie



Category: Harry Potter - Rowling
Genre: Angst, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2007-10-27
Updated: 2007-10-27
Packaged: 2017-10-03 16:48:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 982
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20238
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/madam_minnie/pseuds/madam_minnie
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Had he listened to his sister's warnings about the man he'd fallen deeply in love with, he may have been able to change things. Had he not fallen in love with his best friend… perhaps… things may have been different.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Eternal Kiss

**Author's Note:**

> The fierce angst-ridden plot bunnies have seized me with the 'outing' of Albus Dumbledore. It is all Jo's fault! Thanks to and for the quick beta work. Much of how this ficlet grew was, in great part, to their great suggestions and the update of [Albus' timeline](http://hp-lexicon.org/timelines/timeline_dumbledore.html) at the [Lexicon](http://hp-lexicon.org/).

\---------------------------------  
**June, 1899**  
\---------------------------------

Their meeting began as it always had, a quick nod of acknowledgment, a crossing of paths as they settled on the chaise in the parlour, a hug that would last a few seconds longer with each successive instance. Their eyes would meet over the books they held up to their faces and only the twinkling in the mirrored blue-eyed gaze gave away their mutual affection.

Fair-haired, merry-faced, almost angelic in his appearance, Gellert Grindelwald was a beautiful man. One Albus enjoyed gazing upon often and one he often found himself lost in. The power that face would wield one day would mar that beauteous smile, the aristocratic nose, the golden ringlets Albus would twirl in his fingers after a night of passion and Gellert's thirst for immortality would someday diminish the sapphire orbs that had hidden behind fluttering lashes as they fell asleep atop piles of parchment, scrolls and ancient magical tomes.

The day everything changed, the day his Gellert had changed, would become the greatest tragedy Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore would endure.

 

\---------------------------------  
**July, 1899**  
\---------------------------------

Aberforth had nearly blown the door off the hinges when he charged into Albus' bedroom. The scrambling pair quickly disengaged from their embrace, but it had been too late, there was little that could be left to the imagination as the men lay naked under the thin covers.

"Is he incapable of understanding the need for privacy?" Gellert snarled.

"Could you wait outside, Aberforth?" Albus asked calmly as Ariana screamed.

"She has been screaming for you for several minutes now, but you have obviously been too preoccupied to notice," Aberforth hissed before leaving the room.

Ariana continued to scream and wail, her magic so great; it rattled the wooden floorboards separating them from her. Aberforth's rage had reached a boiling point as well and had Albus not been enthralled with Gellert, he would have likely reached his siblings and absorbed their magic, averting tragedy altogether. Had he listened to his sister's warnings about the man he'd fallen deeply in love with, he might have been able to change things. Had he not fallen in love with his best friend… perhaps… things might have been different.

_Albus did not want to imagine a life without Gellert. _

_Albus did not want to think of a life without him by his side. _

_Albus did not want to see the farce that his lover's affections had become._

 

\---------------------------------  
**August, 1945**  
\---------------------------------

"Do you really think you can disarm me, Albus?" Gellert's high-pitched voice trilled in the dark. "I wield the greatest power the world has ever known!"

"If you think so," Albus replied calmly, his fingers laced behind his back, his wand still holstered, his shimmering silver robes billowing in the night air, long-red hair held back with the black velvet ribbon Ariana wore as a child.

"You could've had everything, Albus!" Gellert whispered as he rounded the newly appointed Hogwarts Deputy Headmaster. "Instead you choose to wipe noses at that school. Join me," he crooned, one long-fingered hand reaching out to him. "We can be together at last," he added, his lips so close Albus could smell the firewhisky on his breath.

"You can come with me, Gellert," Albus began before a sharp blow across his midsection brought him to his knees. After he caught his breath, he looked up into those eyes that even now dazzled him and sputtered, "I do not wish to slay you."

The laughter should have been proof enough that his Gellert was gone. That the beast that faced him now was not the man he'd shared tender moments with all those nights.

The cloaked figures closed in on the pair, their hooded faces bowed in reverence. Could they sense what Albus was beginning to understand? Could they feel his heart tearing?

"You? Slay me?" Gellert threw his head back and laughed. "I am the greatest wizard that has ever lived, Albus. I wield the most powerful wand known to man and unlike you," he hissed, "I am not blinded by the wiles of a beautiful man."

The sting was as strong as the ghosted slap he felt across the face. Eyes brimming with unshed tears, Albus raised his wand and leveled it at the man he loved.

"Do not make me slay you," he managed to say. "Do not make me watch you fall."

"I will make it simple for you, lover," Gellert replied with a smile as he turned, arms outstretched and walked away. "I am defenseless and a perfect mark. Do your worst," he giggled.

Albus was certain Gellert expected an Unforgivable… never an unforgivable act. With lightning speed, he latched himself to Gellert, wrapping arms and legs around the blond man and whispering against his ear as they fell, "I love you and I forgive you, _Expelliarmus_!" The Elder Wand flew into the air as Gellert fell forward with Albus still wrapped around his body.

Knowing he would not be able to look into those eyes and finish the job, Albus pressed his wand to the back of Gellert's neck and casting a bubble around them he spoke the words of the spell that would bind Gellert to his cavern prison for all eternity. When the blinding light engulfed his screaming lover, Albus fell to his knees and wailing; gave into his grief.

 

\---------------------------------  
**July, 1998**  
\---------------------------------

It would be a half-century later before the two would meet again.

"How could you?" the blond asked the redhead, as they lounged on the chaise in the gilded parlour.

"It destroyed me to do it," Albus said.

"Not _that_," the blond waved his hand in the air. "The forgiveness. How could you forgive me after… after everything?"

Turning his lover's face toward his, their noses touching, midnight blue met sapphire. "It's what love does… it forgives and with it…"

"We gain immortality," the blond replied against his lips before surrendering to the eternal kiss.


End file.
